Dehydrating

I am giving this ole thread a good hard BUMP!

I notice that no one has been posting much about dehydrating on the forum.  I am here to ask you all some general questions about the subject.  Curious mind wants to know ...

Do you dehydrate?

What method do you use?

What are some of the things that you dehydrate regularly?

How do you store your food after it is dry?

I don't dehydrate much except herbs and some fruit. I have a NESCO® round dehydrator that I use for strawberries, apples, onions and herbs. I can also use my oven as it has a standing pilot light. As far as storage goes the items go into recycled herb bottles, glass jars or they get vacuum packed in Foodsaver® bags.

hmm somebody has been playing with the "way back machine" LOL

Yes
Electric, and gas
jerky, apple chips, homemade raisins, and dried plums
a sealed canning jar

     Way back machine is good.

OK FF, you inspired me to start dehydrating again! The grocery store had red raspberries on sale 10 for $10 plus get a free package if you bought 10. So, I now have 11 packages to do something with. My DS and I like dehydrated berries in our granola so I'll be dehydrating the majority of them. I may freeze a few packages for adding to yogurt or jam to use in cake filling.

good sale, great idea

Great!  I hope to be a dehydration inspiration to many.    

I dearly love home canned goods.  Somethings like canned tomatoes or a ready to go jar of canned chicken just makes a quick dinner on the old homestead a thing of wonder. 

What would I ever do without my freezer?  I keep TWO big chest freezers and a fridge freezer going and full at all times.  SO easy to just pop those berries in a bag and in the freezer.  What about a pig!  Love my freezer.

Dehydrator?  I think the dehydrator is one of the most under used and under appreciated pieces of storage equipment on the homestead.  We need to use them more. 

If you dehydrate correctly and store properly, the dehydrator can make food shelf stable for long term and use very little energy (both human and otherwise) in the process. 

So far this summer I have dehydrated:  minced garlic (from the store), leeks (from the farmers market), green beans, sweet corn, zucchini, mushrooms (bought on sale), kale and tomatoes (which I am turning into tomato powder for sauces and kale powder to add to recipes and green shakes). 

I have been dehydrating for years and still feel that I barely scratch the surface for possibilities.

BTW ... in answer to my own questions.

I use a Nesco Garden Master dehydrator and usually store my foods in either recycled plastic bottles (like Gatorade or juice bottles) or zip locked in the freezer (for herbs) or a standard glass canning jar where the items are then often oven canned.

My dehydrator is old. I've had it for over 30 years, and don't do the amount of dehydrating I want to do. But, I did get it out and do peaches today. I'll be doing another load tomorrow.

I decided to dehydrate 6 packs of berries and freeze the other 5 packages. I washed them and spread them on a parchment lined baking sheet and popped them into my oven with the pilot light to dehydrate. I'm just not feeling very good and didn't want to mess with cleaning up the dehydrator to use it this time around.

Maybe in a couple of days I'll feel better and can get it out and set up to dehydrate some strawberries, green bean and onions.

A handful of dehydrated strawberry slices on a bleak winter day is enough to assure me that I can survive the winter.

Nothing tastes as good.

We like to add them to applesauce.

When I dehydrate stuff, it normally doesn't last past the end of December. Hubby and I just eat it up. I'm seriously thinking of getting dehydrators for both my kids for Christmas.

I'm bummed, my raspberries I was dehydrating in the oven soured and spoiled. It's been so hot and humid here that I'm sure that's what helped them go bad before they could dehydrate properly.

I pulled my dehydrator out and got it all cleaned up and ready to use. I have all the onions I grew that I need to deal with before they spoil. I'm going to slice/dice then freeze some and dehydrate the majority of them.

Too bad.

That is why I seldom try other drying methods other than the dehydrator.  I have lost track of the spoiled food from trying other methods.

I should have know better but just wasn't up to digging out and cleaning up the dehydrator right then when I needed to do something with the berries.

Now it's cleaned up and ready to use.

I use mine so often it usually just stays out. 

I think I'm going to have to try and get a spot on my limited counter space to dedicate to it. Then I'd be more apt to use it more often.

you and me both Patrice

I don't dehydrate in the kitchen.  I dehydrate on the sun porch.  I have the dehydrator set up on a table out there and it works great.  I don't have to worry about noise or extra heat added to the house and the stuff drys well. 

At the old house I had my dehydrator set up in the spare room upstairs under an operable roof window.  Before that I had it set up on my back porch, until I started using that to brood chicks. 

I simply bring the trays to the kitchen to load them up or empty them.  I have a huge stainless steel mixing (bread) bowl to unload the trays into which makes it fast.  Then I clean the trays and take them back to the dehydrator. 

Works better than in the kitchen if you ask me.

Sorry you lost your berries. I got the last of my peaches dehydrated today and hubby is already starting to eat them. I'm hoping to get at least 2 more baskets.

Unfortunately I don't have room in any other room to operate it except the living/dining room and I'd rather it remain cooler in here as well as quiet for watching TV.

My hubby loves dehydrated apples, especially if I toss a bit of cinnamon on top before I dry them. 

At first he was complaining that the dehydrated apples always gave him diarrhea.  Then I found out he was eating them by the bowl full!  I had to explain to him that about 12 slices equals a whole apple.  He was eating about 4 or 5 apples worth at a time!!  No wonder his tummy was getting sick.  

We like dehydrated apples and strawberries added to oatmeal. I like to add dehydrated apple bits to pancakes too.

It's easy to eat a whole ton of dehydrated fruit all in one sitting. I have to watch it myself.